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| Virgin Trains takes West Coast Main Line court action | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Virgin Trains has said it has started court proceedings over the government's decision to award a new franchise to rival transport company FirstGroup. | |
| Virgin has run the West Coast Main Line since 1997, but lost to FirstGroup, prompting it to demand a review. | |
| Labour had also urged the government to delay the signing of the contract so that MPs could examine it. | Labour had also urged the government to delay the signing of the contract so that MPs could examine it. |
| But earlier Transport Secretary Justine Greening said there would be no delay in signing the FirstGroup deal. | But earlier Transport Secretary Justine Greening said there would be no delay in signing the FirstGroup deal. |
| She had been expected to sign the contract on 29 August, but Virgin is now hoping that its legal challenge will delay the signing. | |
| Virgin said it was going to the High Court in the hope that the process would declared flawed. | |
| However, FirstGroup said in response: "We have every confidence in the DfT's [Department for Transport's] process which is rigorous, detailed and fair and in which bids are thoroughly tested. | |
| "There has been no complaint about the process, which was carefully described in advance, until Virgin Rail Group had lost commercially." | |
| FirstGroup said it wanted to proceed "without delay or disruption" and would continue to prepare to start running the franchise on 9 December this year. | |
| Virgin Trains said a clause in the invitation to tender for the franchise said the DfT should not sign the contract if a legal challenge was received. | |
| 'Substantial risks' | |
| In a statement, Virgin said it had tried to get clarity over the Department for Transport's decision, but its questions had been unanswered for three weeks. | |
| "We are left with no choice but to commence court proceedings as we believe the procurement process has ignored the substantial risks to taxpayers and customers of delivering FirstGroup's bid over the course of the franchise. | |
| "In addition, it has ignored the DfT's own assessment that VTL's [Virgin Trains Limited] bid was more deliverable and a lower risk." | |
| A company statement added: "The current process is geared to selecting the highest-risk bid and needs to be independently audited to prevent a repeat of former franchise failures." | |
| Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, said the decision had not been taken lightly. | |
| "We had hoped that Parliament or an external review would be able to scrutinise this badly flawed process before the franchise was signed," he said. | |
| "However, that opportunity would be denied if the DfT follows through with its determination to rush through the process before Parliament returns next week." |